Floor polisher



March 14, 1933- F. RIEBEL, JR., Er AL 1,901,670

FLOOR POLISHER Filed Aug. 27, 1929 INVENTORS J'Tea/erz'ch fife 6e 2 fr.

fu Davey/HBO w.

A TTORNEYS Patented Mar. 14, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE j FREDERICK maximum, AND DEWEY 1c. now, or momma, omo, Assmnons To AIR was: unaware umane conromrrou, on TOLEDO, OHIO, A coaroan'rron or namwaan 31.003 rousnnn" Application filed August 27, 1929. Serial No. 388,768.

This invention relates to vacuum cleaners, and its primary object, broadly stated, is to provide means 'whereby such cleaners can be conveniently and expeditiously adapted for polishing floors. I

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, said invention, then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims,

the annexed drawing and the following description setting forth in detail certain means of carrying out the invention, such disclosed means illustrating, however, but one of Various. ways in which the principle of the invention may be used.

In said annexed drawing Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a vacuum cleaner; Fig. 2 is a partly sectional and partly elevational view which shows how the machine of Fig. 1 is combined with the present improvements;.Fig. 3 is a partly sectional plan view of a part of the apparatus shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view of a working member; and Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevation of one of the halves of the gear housing for the working shaft transmission gears, showing the gears and shaft positioned therein.

For purposes of illustration, this invention is here shown in association with a vacuum cleaner which consists of a wheel supported floor tool 10, a suction tube 11, a suction chamber 12, a fan casing 13, a motor 14, a wheeled bracket 15, a discharge pipe 16, a dust collecting filter 17, and a tubular and socketed handle 18. The floor tool 10 is swiveled to the lower end of the suction tube 11, and the upper end of such tube is clamped ing 25. This opening is adapted for connecting either the suction tube 11 or the handle 18 with the interior of the vacuum chamber 12. The fan 24 is positioned within the casing 13, and the motor shaft upon which it is mounted projects into the chamber 12-and is provided with a gear 26. The machine shown in Fig. 1 operates in the usual manner, that is to say, the dust and dirt which is entrained with the entering air passes successively through the chamber 12 and the casing 13, and is finally expelled through the discharge pipe 16 and into the airfiltering and dustcollecting unit 17.

The suction tube 11 and its attached floor tool 10 may be regarded as a unitary member, and this member is removable from its associations with the other parts of the machine, this removal being effected. by loosenmg the clamp 27 and then disconnecting the upper end of the tube '11 from the extension 19. The polishing attachment with the pres ent invention provides for use in combinatlon with the above described and other machin s consists of a tube 28, a shaft 29, a brack- 'et structure 30, and a brush 31. The upper end of the shaft 29 carries a gear 32 and is o urnalled in a bearing 33 which is secured within the upper end of the tube 28. The lower end of such tube is flared as at 34 and revolubly seats against the boss 35 and beneath the collar 36. The bosst 35 is provided with a bearing 37 which journals the lower end of the shaft 29, and its lateral extensions 38 form the bracket 30. The end portions 39 of such bracket-are slotted as shown, and the inner extremities of these slots are enlarged and internally threaded for cooperatlng with the plugs 40. Such plugs are inwardly socketed for receiving the outer ends of the brush shafts 41. The inner ends of the shafts 41 are adapted for non-revolubly connecting with the gudgeons of the worm wheel 42, such gudgeons desirably projecting through suitable openings in the sides of the casing or housing 43. The housing 43 is made up of two complemental halves which are secured together by the nuts or caps 44. having laterally extending bosses 46 through which the'brush shaft 41 is journaled. The shaft 29 extends through a bore in the upper of such caps, and its extreme lower end is journ alled between the extensions with which the lower of such caps engages. The-interv mediate part. of such shaft is provided with a worm 45 which intermeshes with the worm wheel 42. This polishing brush and its associated parts constitute a unitary member which is adapted for bodily replacing lthe floor tool 10 and the suction tube 11. ion this substitution is to be made; the cleaning unit is removed or disconnected in the manner above explained; the valve 20 is turned to the position illustrated in Fig. 2; and the tube 28 is then telescoped with the extension 19, and the gear 32 is meshed with the gear 26. The clamp 27 is next tightened to hold the assembled parts together,-and the machine is then ready for operation. It is not considered necessary to explain the mannerof using the polishing machine which results from the above described process of conversion, but it. may be mentioned that when necessary for enabling a polishing 0* the areas under furniture and the like,the

motor 14 and its wheeled bracket 15 may be swung laterally in order that the handle 18 may be approached more closely to the floor; such handle ordinaril extending upwardly, such motor normally eing inclined in a" ver tical and longitudinal plane, and such bracket being usually in a position for permitting of the use of its wheels as a support and as a fulcrum about which the machine may be rearwardly tilted so as to raise its brush from the level of the operating plane.

The modification illustrated in Fig. 4 relates wholly to the working member which instead of a brush, as shown in .Figs. 1, 2

- and 3, may obviously consist of any equivalent type of rotary tool, e. g, a rotary waxer and polisher. In the pre erred form illustrated in Fig. 4, the latter comprises a hollow metal drum or roller 50 with oppositely extending stub shafts 51 which correspond with the brush shafts 41 andare designed to be mounted in the frame consisting of members 38 and 39 and to bedriven in the same manner as said brush shafts. Permanently secured to the surface of the roller 50 is a layer52 of felt or equivalent absorbent material and surrounding the latter is detachably secured a layer 53 of linen cloth which may be replaced with a similardetachable layer of felt. In using the device the permanent felt layer 52 is first saturated with liquid wax or equivalent polishing material and the cloth layer 53 secured around the same. Upon moving the roller across the floor, such roller being motor drivenin the same fashion as the rotary brush in the first described construction, the wax seeping through the cloth layer will be supplied to the floor in the form of a thin coating. Thereupon the cloth layer 53 is removed from the roll and the felt pad substituted and the operation repeated, such felt pad servin to impart a high polish to the previously eposited wax coating.

As above specifically described, the presgards the means ent invention comprises a gear driven polable suction tool, and that, when broadly regarded, such invention is so characterized as to be with respect to certain of its novel feature's, exclusively a floor polisher and in no essential sense a vacuum cleaner. I

Other modes of applying the principle of our invention may be em loyed instead of the one explained change eing made as reherein disclosed, provided those stated by any of the following claims or their equivalent be employed. y We therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as our invention 1. In combination with a motor and handle. assembly including a gear casing and a motor driven shaft projecting into said casing; a shank'extendlng from said casing, a

transmission shaft extending longitudinallythrough said shank and projecting into said casing, co-acting gears on said transmission shaft and motor shaft respectivel and a rotatable olishing member journal ed in the end of sa1d shank and geared to said transon said transmission shaft and motor shaft 3. In combination with a motor and han- I dle assembly including a gearcasing having a socket, a motor driven shaft projecting into sa1d casing, and a bevel gear on said motor shaft, a shank secured in said socket a shaft extending longitudinally through said shank, projecting into said casing and provided with a bevel gear meshing with the bevel gear on the motor shaft and positioned between the motor shaft and said shank whereby removal of the shank from the socket will not be interfered with by said meshing bevel gears, and a rotatable polishing member mounted on the end of the shank and geared to said transmission shaft.

4. In combination with a motor and handle assembly including a gear casing having a socket and a motor driven shaft projecting into said casing; a shank secured in said socket, a transmission shaft extending longitudinally through the shank and journalled therein, inter-meshin gears on said transmission and motor shafts respectively, a yoke shaped polisher bracket pivotally mounted on the end of said shank for rotation about the axis of said transmission shaft, said bracket including arms positioned one on either side of said axis, a rotatable polisher including a shaft journalled in said arms in a position at right angles to said transmission shaft, the transmission shaft extending through the central region of said yoke, and being geared to the said polisher element shaft.

5. In combination with a handle and motor assembly including a motor with a downwardly and rearwardly inclined shaft, a gear casing having a downwardly and forwardly inclined socket, said motor shaft projecting into said casing; a shank secured in said socket and projecting downwardly and forwardly, a transmission shaft extending longitudinally through said shank journalled therein and projecting into the casing, Intermeshing gears on said transmission and motor shafts respectively, a rotatable polisher journalled in the lower end of said shank in a position at right angles to the axis of said transmission shaft, the axes of said polisher and transmission shaft being positioned relatively near each other so as to substantially intersect, and said transmission shaft being geared to said polisher.

6. In combination with a handle and motor assembly including a motor with a downwardly and rearwardly inclined shaft, a gear casing having a downwardly and forwardly inclined socket, said motor shaft projecting into said casing; a shank secured in said socket and projecting downwardly and forward- 1?, a transmissionshaft, extendin longituinally through said shank journafied therein and projecting into the casing, inter-meshmg gears on said transmission and motor shafts respectively, a rotatable polisher positioned at right angles to the axis of said transmission shaft and geared thereto, bracket means wherein said polisher is journalled said bracket means being pivotally mounted on the lower end of the shank for rotational movement about the axis of said transmission shaft.

7 In combination with a motor and handle assembly, a transmission shaft driven from said motor and opposed to the handle, a rotatable polisher mounted on said assembly with its axis transverse to the transmission shaft and geared thereto, said polisher being mounted for swivelling movement relative to said motor handle assembly about the axis of the transmission shaft as well as rotation about its own axis.

8. In combination with a rigid handle and -motor assembly including a motor with a downwardly and rearwardly inclined shaft,

said shaft projects, and an upwardly and l rearwardly inclined handle, a shank projecting downwardly and forwardly from said casing, a transmission shaft extending longitudinally through said shank, journalled therein and extending into the casing, intermeshing gears on the respective shafts, a rotatable polisher carried by the lower end of the shank, journalled for rotation about an axis transverse to the transmission shaft and geared thereto, and floor wheels mounted on the lower extremity of the motor and constitutin a fulcrum about which said handle is tiltabde to raise the polisher from the level of its operating plane.

Signed by us, this 21st day of Au FREDERICK RIEB L, J R. DEWEY M. DOW.

st, 1929. n 

